U.S. Plane Fired Upon in Pakistan

Published 8:00 pm, Monday, February 25, 2002

Gunmen fired on a U.S. military transport Tuesday after it took off from a Pakistan air base to Afghanistan, according to a Pakistani official and a local journalist.

The C-130 transport was about 20 miles into its flight from the southwest city of Jacobabad when several gunmen in the remote village of Umrani Lari opened fire. The plane was not hit and the pilot returned to Shahbaz air base, journalist Hanif Ubro said.

Police arrested eight suspects in the village for questioning, Ubro said.

A senior intelligence official in the capital, Islamabad, confirmed the shooting and arrests.

Officials at the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., said they knew nothing of an attack.

Pakistan allows the U.S.-led coalition to use the Jacobabad air base for logistical support in the Afghan campaign. Granting U.S. access to the base stirred sometimes violent protests in the city last October.